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Foreword
The primary intent of this manual is to guide you through the FTG regional turboprop
type rating exam. You have to have basic knowledge about (flight simulator) flying
and FTG operations. Please work through the resources you can find at the training
department of your FTG VA.
There are some obvious differences between turboprop and jet aircraft. Turboprops
cant fly as fast as jets. And they cant fly as high as jets. But they dont need as
much fuel as jets do.
On short distance routes they are simply cheaper to operate, because on these short
legs jets cant really play their speed advantage trump. So now that we know why
turboprops are in service, lets see what a pilot has to know about them to fly them.
I have put quite some time into writing this manual, and I do not want it to be wasted
time. That would be the case if you consider this manual useless and it is no help to
you for whatever reasons. So I would very much appreciate if you contact me in case
you find anything completely confusing, too superficial or missing.
So if you have any questions, suggestions or criticism please contact me.
Happy and successful learning
Raffael Schmidt
raffael@cpavirtual.org
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This page shows computer drawings of four different variations of a gas turbine or jet
engine. While each of the engines are different, they share some in common. Each of
these engines have a combustion section (red), a compressor (cyan), a turbine
(magenta) and an inlet or intake and a nozzle (grey).
The compressor, burner, and turbine are called the core of the engine, since all gas
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turbines have these components. The core is also referred to as the gas generator
since the output of the core is hot exhaust gas. The gas is passed through a nozzle
to produce thrust for the turbojet, while it is used to drive the turbine (green) of the
turbofan and turboprop engines. Because the compressor and turbine are linked by
the central shaft and rotate together, this group of parts is called the
turbomachinery.
Most modern passenger and military aircraft are powered by gas turbine engines,
which are also called jet engines. The first and simplest type of gas turbine is the
turbojet. How does a turbojet work?
Large amounts of surrounding air are continuously brought into the engine inlet or (In
England, they call this part the intake, which is probably a more accurate description,
since the compressor pulls air into the engine.) We have shown here a tube-shaped
inlet, like one you would see on an airliner. But inlets come in many shapes and sizes
depending on the aircraft's mission. At the rear of the inlet, the air enters the
compressor. A compressor is like an electric fan. We have to supply energy to turn
the compressor. At the exit of the compressor, the air is at a much higher pressure
than at the intake. In the burner a small amount of fuel is combined with the air and
ignited. Leaving the burner, the hot exhaust is passed through the turbine. The
turbine works like a windmill. Instead of needing energy to turn the blades to make
the air flow, the turbine extracts energy from a flow of gas by making the blades spin
in the flow. In a jet engine we use the energy extracted by the turbine to turn the
compressor by linking the compressor and the turbine by the central shaft. The
turbine takes some energy out of the hot exhaust, but there is enough energy left
over to provide thrust to the jet engine by increasing the velocity through the nozzle.
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Propeller-Produced Thrust
For the forty years following the first flight of the Wright brothers, airplanes used
internal combustion engines to turn propellers to generate thrust. Today, most
general aviation or private airplanes are still powered by propellers and internal
combustion engines, much like your car engine. The engine takes air from the
surroundings, mixes it with fuel, burns the fuel to release the energy in the fuel, and
uses the heated gas exhaust to move a piston which is attached to a crankshaft. In
the automobile, the shaft is used to turn the wheels of the car. In an airplane, the
shaft is connected to a propeller.
Propellers as Airfoils
The propeller acts like a rotating wing creating a lift force by moving through the air.
For a propeller-powered aircraft, the gas that is accelerated is the surrounding air that
passes through the propeller. The air that is used for combustion in the engine
provides very little thrust. Propellers can have from 2 to 6 blades. A cut through the
blade perpendicular to the long dimension will give an airfoil shape. Because the
blades rotate, the tips move faster than the hub. So to make the propeller efficient,
the blades are usually twisted from hub to tip.
Other Engines Drive Propellers
After World War II, as jet engines gained popularity, aerodynamicists used jet
engines to turn the propellers on some aircraft. This propulsion system is called a
turboprop. A C-130 transport plane is a turboprop aircraft. Its main thrust comes from
the propellers, but the propellers are turned by turbine engines. The human-powered
aircraft of the mid 80's were also propeller-powered, but the "engine" was provided
by a human using a bicycle gearing device. Currently NASA is flying a solar-powered,
electric engine aircraft that also uses propellers. Propeller-powered aircraft are very
efficient for low speed flight. But as the speed of the aircraft increases, regions of
supersonic flow, with associated performance losses due to shock waves, occur on
the propeller. So propellers are not used on high speed aircraft.
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Many low speed transport aircraft and small commuter aircraft use turboprop
propulsion. The turboprop uses a gas turbine core to turn a propeller. Propeller
engines develop thrust by moving a large mass of air through a small change in
velocity. Propellers are very efficient and can use nearly any kind of engine to turn
the prop. In the turboprop, a gas turbine core is used. How does a turboprop engine
work?
There are two main parts to a turboprop propulsion system, the core engine and the
propeller. The core is very similar to a basic turbojet except that instead of expanding
all the hot exhaust through the nozzle to produce thrust, most of the energy of the
exhaust is used to turn the turbine. There may be an additional turbine stage present,
as shown in green on the diagram, which is connected to a drive shaft. The drive
shaft, also shown in green, is connected to a gear box. The gear box is then
connected to a propeller that produces most of the thrust. The exhaust velocity of a
turboprop is low and contributes little thrust because most of the energy of the core
exhaust has gone into turning the drive shaft, and with it the propeller.
Because propellers become less efficient as the speed of the aircraft increases,
turboprops are used only for low speed aircraft like cargo planes. A variation of the
turboprop engine is the turboshaft engine. In a turboshaft engine, the gear box is
not connected to a propeller but to some other drive device. Turboshaft engines are
used in many helicopters, as well as tanks, boats, and even race cars in the late
1960's.
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possible. Time to shift into the highest gear then. You also release the gas pedal as
soon as you have reached your desired cruise speed.
So, in the air you increase the
propeller pitch even further (to
a position called coarse pitch)
at cruise flight and you pull
out as much power as
possible to hold your cruise
speed. The torque needed to
turn the propeller is now quite
high,
as
the
propeller
produces high drag, but each
revolution of the now high
pitch propeller takes you way
further than one of o low pitch
propeller would. Your engines
run at low RPM, thus they
burn only small amounts of
fuel. The picture at the right
might help to visualize this.
To make a (turbo)prop pilots live easier, and make learning even more confusing,
the constant speed propeller was developed. It basically manages pitch setting
automatically; the pilot only has to set the RPM he wants the propeller to turn at.
A constant-speed (RPM) propeller system permits the pilot to select the propeller
and engine speed for any situation and automatically maintain that RPM under
varying conditions of aircraft attitude and engine power. Thereby permitting operation
of propeller and engine at most efficient RPMs. RPM is controlled by varying the pitch
of the propeller blades. When the pilot increases power in flight, the blade angle is
increased, the torque required to spin the propeller is increased and, for any given
RPM setting, aircraft speed and torque on the engine will increase. For economy
cruising, the pilot can throttle back to the desired cruise conditions and decrease the
pitch of the propeller, while maintaining the pilot-selected RPM.
A full-feathering propeller system is normally used only on multiengine aircraft. If one of the engines fails in flight, the propeller on
the idle engine can rotate or windmill, causing increased drag. To
prevent this, the propeller can be feathered (turned to a very high
pitch), with the blades almost parallel to the airstream. This
eliminates asymmetric drag forces caused by windmilling when an
engine is shut down. A propeller that can be pitched to this
position is called a full-feathering propeller.
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To sum things up, with a constant speed propeller system (all turboprop airliners use
constant speed propellers!):
Increasing engine power at any given RPM means that propeller pitch and
torque required to spin the propeller are increased, so that the RPM remains
constant.
Decreasing engine power at any given RPM means that propeller pitch and
torque needed to spin are decreased as well, to hold the commanded propeller
RPM.
Torque indicator
It basically tells you how much power from the turbine is transferred to the
propeller. Its calibrated in percent, where 100% is the upper limit which should
not be exceeded. Torque settings for each phase of a flight are published in
the AOM (Aircraft Operation Manual). They have to be varied with speed,
altitude, air temperature and, of course, with the type of aircraft.
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Power Lever
Sets N1 and torque. If
moved forward at a
constant Prop RPM, N1
and Torque will rise. I.e.
advancing means more
power. Can be moved
back through the idle
position. Behind the idle
position the power lever
directly commands the
propeller blade pitch.
The first part of the
backward
movement
puts the blades in a very
shallow angle where they
produce little or no thrust. This is called the Beta Range, and its used during
ground
movement
to
prevent
overspeeding.
If moved back even further the power lever commands the blades into reverse
angle, where they produce thrust directed to the front of the aircraft. This is
called the Prop Reverse Range and its used to slow down after landing and
during taxi.
Condition Lever
The Condition Lever commands
Prop RPM. The RPM set by the
Pilot using CL is held constant
by a hydraulic mechanism
which varies the blade angle
(this setup is called Constant
Speed Propeller, because the
propellers always turn at the
commanded speed, regardless
of
the
power
setting).
Exceptions to this always the
same speed behaviour are the
aforementioned Beta & Reverse
Range
and
the
Feather
Position. In this position the
blades are at a neutral angle and produce neither thrust nor drag. This is used
in case of an in flight engine failure to prevent the no-more-by-an-engineturned-propeller from producing too much drag. The pilot can command the
blades manually into the feathered position by pulling the condition lever all
the way back. If he pulls it back through a lock even further, fuel flow to the
engine is cut off.
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Prop Lever
Some turboprop aircraft have a
third lever in the cockpit, the
Prop Lever. In this case the
prop lever commands prop
speed and manual feathering,
and the CL commands the idle
speed of the gas generator and
the fuel cut-off. The condition
lever has then to be set to a
low idle position most of the
time. E.g.: In the Beech King Air
350 the low idle position
enables N1 values form 62% to
104%. In the high idle position it
enables N1 values from 70% to
104%. That means in the low
idle position you have a wider N1 range available. Thats only if you can find
three different levers in your cockpit. If there are only two, they work as
described above.
Dont wonder if your head is smoking right now, here is a short summary of the
above:
You set N1 and Torque by using the power levers. Pull the PL back through idle and
you make your props produce less thrust, as you now control propeller blade angle
directly. Pull PL back farther and you will slow down as you are now reversing.
You set Propeller RPM by using the Condition Lever. You dont have to care about
your prop RPM anymore, as it will be held constant mechanically. Just set the
desired value, but dont forget to change it according to your current stage of flight.
Pull CL all the way back and you have feathered your propeller, which no produces
zero thrust. Pulling it back totally cuts the fuel flow off, i.e. shuts the engine down.
To illustrate all that a little more well quickly talk through a flight in a turboprop
airliner, focusing on the handling of the control elements discussed above.
You will find your aircraft with engines shut down. That means PL will be in
idle position and CL in cut-off. As the cut-off position at the CL is behind the
feather position, you will always have feathered propellers if you shut the
engines down. After finishing all the before start-up work (acceptance checks,
establishing power supply, setting up FPL in FMC) you follow the aircraft
specific procedures for starting up the engines. Finally you have to move the
CL from cut-off into the feather position to establish fuel flow to the engine
being started. It now should spool up.
To start rolling move CL about halfway forward. Dont move the PL, as nothing
will as long as you dont move CL forward. Why? Right, because then your
propeller is still feathered.
During ground movement you should move your PL only between idle and
Beta Range, as turboprops have the tendency to behave like sports cars on
ground.
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PAGE 12
bugs on the torque indicator which the pilot follows to fully automated thrust
management systems which manage optimal torque settings completely by
themselves. The ATR 72-500 for example has such a high degree of torque
management automation.
In FS of course it depends on the panel you are using how much computer
assistance you will have available. Please study the manuals for your aircraft/panel
carefully so you can make the best use of features developed to assist you.
If you dont have any thrust management computer with you up there just stick to the
published performance charts and keep all indicator needles out of their red zones.
Another peculiarity of turboprop aircraft is that they can drive backwards on ground
by themselves, without the use of a pushback truck. How? Simply by putting the PLs
into reverse position, the engines wont be damaged by doing this.
You should use extreme caution when doing this, as you cant see whats
going on behind your aircraft. Be very cautious with the use of the
wheelbreakes when rolling backwards, as the aircraft will have the tendency to
flip onto its tail if its stopped too abrupt.
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3. Safety
As a pilot of an FTG Airline your primary concern should be safety. The safety of your
passengers, of the plane and finally your own safety.
An aircraft that crashed because the crew hurried to be on time is of no use for your
company. Some chief pilots tend to forget that when your last flight arrived late once
again. If you are asked for an explanation, do one of the following things:
If you were late because of circumstances you could not change, like heavy traffic,
explain this to your chief pilot.
If you were late because you made a mistake, try to identify the reasons for why you
made the mistake and never make it again.
But never ever get in a hurry to be on time. You will be in trouble sooner than
later if you do so.
Countless investigations of aviation accidents and incidents show that a lot of them
happen because pilots got in a hurry, and thus putting themselves under greater
stress than they needed. Crews trying to get somewhere as quickly as possible tend
to miss crucial checklist items, make miscalculations, misread minimum descent
altitudes and generally tend to take higher risks then crews who take a more relaxed
approach to the whole story.
In flight safety
This term summarizes all actions taken by the crew of an airplane-pilots and cabin
crew- in flight to keep their passengers safe. The following actions are to be taken on
every FTG flight:
At every waypoint of your flightplan check your fuel status. Did you use more
or less then planned? Does it look like you will run out of fuel before you reach
your destination? If this is the fact, immediately deviate to the next possible
alternate to refuel. Things like that happen. You could have miscalculated your
fuel needs, or external circumstances like the weather could have changed
during the course of your flight. A technical problem might also well be the
reason why you needed more fuel than planned. There is one moment where
you can take corrective actions to prevent ugly things from happening. The
moment when you recognize that you have less fuel than needed. The sooner
this moment occurs, the better, obviously. So have an eye on your fuel gauges
regularly. The moment you are approaching the largest meadow you could
find with your engines off is too late. Definitely too late.
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Check your position at every waypoint of your flightplan. Are you where you
should be? Even in times of FMCs your responsibility as a pilot is to get where
you want, not where a faulty (or wrong programmed!) computer might want to
take you to.
If you cannot see the runway at the Decision Altitude (DA) / Decision Height
(DH).
Aircraft icing
Icing is a great danger to any aircraft. Ice building up on wings and control
surfaces basically changes the geometry of these parts of an airplane and thus
changes their aerodynamic characteristics. This means performance losses
and in worst case complete loss of lift generated by the wings. Ice or heavy
precipitation can also cause an engine flame out.
If flying in icing conditions actions have to be taken to minimize the risk of icing.
Icing conditions exist if:
OAT / SAT is lower than 10 Celsius and/or visible moisture exists during
ground operations
OAT (Outside Air Temperature) or SAT (Still Air Temperature) means the
temperature of unmoved air. OAT and SAT is the same thing.
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Below
18,000 feet MSL
0to 179
At or above 18,000
feet MSL but below
FL 290
Odd Flight Levels
(FL 190; 210; 230,
etc.)
Even Flight Levels
(FL 180; 200; 220,
etc.)
At or above
FL 290,
Beginning at
FL 290;
(FL 290; 330;
370, etc.)
Beginning at
FL 310;
(FL 310; 350;
390, etc.)
At cruise flight level always fly at the cruise speed published for your aircraft, which
will generally be slightly above 200 kts IAS. Again, please refer to the POH of your
Aircraft.
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Appendix
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I, Acknowledgements
All the engine schematics in the first part of this manual were made by Mr. Tom
Benson and his team from NASA Glenn Research Center.
GRC runs a website, containing in-depth information about aircraft propulsion
systems. Have a look:
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/shortp.html
Two books Id like to recommend are Be a better pilot and Make better landings,
both written by Alan Bramson. These books are actually made for private pilots,
mainly focusing on flying planes of the size of a Cessna Skylane. But all the
knowledge written down in these books has to be considered as basics for
everyone flying an airplane. They are not the cheapest, around 45 each, but if you
want to read interesting and funny books about flying, get them.
Another good and actually quite extensive source for pilots is the Learning Center
that comes with MSFS. In my opinion it is structured in a rather confusing way, but if
you take some time you will find a lot of info.
A big Thank You goes to everyone who helped me to write this manual by reviewing
it and checking for mistakes or who gave constructive criticism.
http://rfinder.asalink.net/free/
http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/coded.html
https://www.notams.jcs.mil/
http://www.navdata.at/php/charts/charts.php
Aviation Knowledge
Covering physics of flight
Aircraft propulsion systems
Aerodynamics
Regarding safety
http://www.av8n.com/how/#mytoc
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K12/airplane/shortp.html
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K12/airplane/short.html
http://www.smartcockpit.com/
V1.1
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Dep. Apt.
T out / off
Cruise alt./FL
Cruise Mach
Distance
Arr. Apt.
T on / in
Fuel out
Fuel in
Fuel used
Flight #
AC
Zulu t out
Zulu t in
Block t
Route
Comments
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dep. Apt.
T out / off
Cruise alt./FL
Cruise Mach
Distance
Arr. Apt.
T on / in
Fuel out
Fuel in
Fuel used
Flight #
AC
Zulu t out
Zulu t in
Block t
Route
Comments
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dep. Apt.
T out / off
Cruise alt./FL
Cruise Mach
Distance
Arr. Apt.
T on / in
Fuel out
Fuel in
Fuel used
Flight #
AC
Zulu t out
Zulu t in
Block t
Route
Comments
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dep. Apt.
T out / off
Cruise alt./FL
Cruise Mach
Distance
Arr. Apt.
T on / in
Fuel out
Fuel in
Fuel used
Flight #
AC
Zulu t out
Zulu t in
Block t
Route
Comments
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++